Revo has managed to squeeze many of the current must-have features of a portable radio into an updated version of its Pico RadioStation DAB offering.
Revo has been ruffling feathers in the radio world for a few years now. It first came to prominence when the company released its in-Car DAB Digital Radio Adaptor, way back in 2005 …

Nice

More detail please!

Looks nice but this (and your earlier reviews of internet radios) need more detail about how they work.

I know that most internet radios use firmware from Reciva.com. This depends on getting listings and URLs of stations and on-demand streams from the Reciva site. If the web site goes down (admittedly, it's happened to me once in a year) you're stuck with your pre-sets or whatever you listened to last.

Overall, I like my Reciva-based radio but it has plenty of annoyances, especially in the layout of the menus. For instance, why put the network setup (which you may only use once) at the top of the menu but the sleep timer (which you may use daily) eighth? Also, it's irritating that podcasts restart as soon as they've finished playing and will do so ad infinitum until interrupted by the user.

It would be interesting to know whether other models suffer from similar irritations. Is this one Reciva-based or does it get its firmware and URLs from another source? If it doesn't use Reciva, is it equally dependent on another web site?

@Tony Hoyle

"The Pico RadioStation is again claimed to be a world-first: the only truly portable hybrid radio to unite DAB and DAB+, RDS FM, internet radio, and content streaming abilities"

furthermore -

"The internet search menu is nice and simple, and also has a section of FAQs for internet radio beginners. It provides easy-to follow genre- and location-based searche tempates, and the ever weirder world of podcasts is put on an easy-to-digest plate."

Evolution of the Pico WiFi

I have a Pico WiFi - predecessor of this unit. It has not been without its problems; I am on my second unit having needed a replacement due to a hard hang problem. The Reciva Internet radio system is far from perfect; there are too many duplicate entries, and the categories provided don't really reflect the range of content that's available.

But it's a nice little unit, and this new version seems like it is a step forwards. I'd have one.

Nice…

What about AM, also...

I'm a news junkie: lots of news stations are not on FM. But I cannot for love or money buy a decent portable media device that does AM *and* MP3+FM! This is very irritating!

Also, how does broadcast work in the UK? It seem that there is a gov't or quasi-gov't body called OFCOM that dictates whether a manufacturer's products can work. Is this correct? In Canada we have the CRTC which licenses broadcast outfits but generally does not license makers of reception equipment. Why would you want to control what products can receive broadcasts?

This is very strange. Can anyone explain it to me?

Thanks in advance!

The penguin because I sometimes listen to CBC webcasts on my Linux box.

portable radio

It's a portable radio. It will play for about 12 hours on battery and has covered ports so you don't have to worry too much about dirt and water.

OK, so how big is it?

An important piece of information for a portable unit, I reckon. After all there's a big deal of difference between a radio the size of my phone and one that's as big as a juice carton, say. All the relevant information please, next time!

DAB isn't all that it is cracked up to be

DAB is all fine and well, if and when it works, and even then it is far from perfect. In the middle of Swansea it works fairly well, but go a mile or two west (not even as far as Llanelli), and you can't get anything, although apparently it does work in parts of Llanelli.

The local radio stations only broadcast live sports commentry on MW which my DAB radio doesn't pick up - so if I want to listen to the commentry from the Osprey's game then it is back out with my £5 Tesco value FM/AM radio. Apart from Virgin/Absolute I don't know of any MW/LW stations that are available on DAB.

What about USB?

Although it has a USB port for software upgrades, there is no front mounted USB port that you can plug a pen drive into for playing music or storing incoming programmes. A lot of talking newspapers for the blind are now switching from cassettes to pen drives for distribution, as well as internet in some cases. Can the Pico log onto password protected streaming/podcast sites?